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Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 9, 1951, to a Creek father and a Cherokee-French mother. As an enrolled member of the Mvskoke (Creek) Nation, Harjo’s work draws on Native American traditions and symbols and

Memory Sack

by Joy Harjo (b. 1951)

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15

That first cry opens the earth door.
We join the ancestor road.
With our pack of memories
Slung slack on our backs
We venture into the circle
Of destruction,
Which is the circle
Of creation
And make more-

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